Tag Archives: TriageLogic

An Effective Approach to ER Phone Calls

Dr. Charu Raheja

Emergency Room (ER) overcrowding
is widespread in hospitals, creating delays and diversion from those who need care
the most. According to a recent article, “Compounding the problem is the alarming
trend of a decreasing number of ERs and an increasing number of ER visits.”

All too often, injury or illness appears without warning for patients. For hospitals trying to control overcrowding, the obvious solution is to redirect patients who don’t need to be in the ER to more appropriate paths for care. Who then determines if it’s necessary for a patient to go the ER? Most people aren’t trained medical professionals, and as a result, they worry and end up in the ER for non-urgent symptoms.

Patients faced with uncertainty
about where to go, all too often, end up calling the ER department and receive a
standard response: “We are not allowed to give advice over the phone. If you think
you have an emergency, please hang up and call 911. If you think you need to see
someone, you can come to the emergency room or call your doctor.”

So, who do you call?

Telephone Triage

One hospital in Oklahoma, with a similar issue, wanted to change this process. What if they provided a nurse triage line that would be available to receive calls from the patients calling the ER? Having the reassurance of a triage nurse could help decrease the number of people in the ER for non-emergency reasons.

This would provide patients with
quick and easy access to a trained medical professional to assist in determining
the appropriate next steps based on their symptoms and medical history. Also, since
the nurses work independently from the hospital system, the nurses would provide an objective opinion increasing
patient trust.

Results

The results were inspiring. The nurses significantly decreased unnecessary emergency room visits. A random survey of about 520 patients uncovered their plans before talking to a nurse. This helped determine the effectiveness of the system.

Out of 240 patients who were planning to go to the ER, 42 percent of them were diverted to a lower level of care, including 17 percent that received home care needing no additional follow up actions. This translated into a savings of at least 215,000 dollars in unnecessary ER visits, not to mention providing peace of mind for patients being able to stay home and rest.

Better Health Outcomes

The benefits didn’t just stop at ER costs savings. Consider the patients who called into the nurse triage line and were not intending to go to the ER. Some medical conditions are considered emergencies because they require rapid or advanced treatments.

Surprisingly, close to 20 percent of the patients who called into the nurse triage line had symptoms that were serious enough to warrant a visit to the ER. Without the nurse line, the outcomes for these patients could have been life threatening or fatal.

Conclusion

While nurse triage has shown significant
effectiveness in an outpatient setting, this preliminary data shows even greater
promise to expand this model to emergency rooms around the country.

Providing local communities with a nurse triage program not only prevents unnecessary ER visits and saves on healthcare costs, but it also ensures patients get appropriate care when a serious symptom arises. For the hospital, this increases goodwill in the community while addressing the overcrowding of the ER: a win-win all around.

Dr. Charu Raheja is the co-founder and CEO of the Triage Logic Group. Charu’s personal struggles and triumphs with her health define both her personal and her professional mission. Most recently, her experience in overcoming a life-threatening health event led her to launch the Continuwell brand. The TriageLogic Group provides telehealth software, mobile communication solutions, and services to large medical centers and businesses around the country. It is part of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and it covers over 25 million lives nationwide. Visit www.TriageLogic.com or contact Amy Smith at 888-TEAMTLC for more information.

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TriageLogic introduced the latest version of MyTriageChecklist®, a daytime telephone nurse triage software to triage and document patient phone calls. This upgrade includes new features with data analytics reports and the ability for providers to customize the care instructions their nurses give during triage calls.

MyTriageChecklist now includes the ability to create custom reports. The new analytics feature allows practices to easily evaluate and monitor their clinical patient phone calls. They can see in real time the results of patient calls, including protocols used, disposition, and outcomes.

Another feature of the new myTriageChecklist is the ability to create custom orders. With this technology, once the nurse has determined the appropriate level of care, they can follow tailored instructions based on physician or practice preferences. For example, some doctors prefer their patients use specific brands of medications when appropriate. Other examples include a specific urgent care center or ER to go to if patients need immediate treatment. This option allows the nurse to help patients without having to consult with the doctor on every call. Highlights include:

Nurse triage protocols from Schmitt-Thompson, daytime and after-hours

Fast, efficient point and click interface

Medication dosage charts: click to add to triage documentation

Email/text handouts and encounter specific care advice to callers

Smart copy and paste to EMR

Preconfigured to work seamlessly inside Salesforce

Training to use the myTriageChecklist telephone triage software takes thirty minutes or less. A nurse manager gives personalized training for every group that signs up. The software is web based, meaning that no hardware or IT support is needed. These new features make it easy for any organization to set up and maintain a quality clinical call program.

Founded in 2005, TriageLogic is a URAC accredited, physician-led provider of quality services and software for telehealth. They integrate communication solutions with medical expertise based on practical experience and a thorough understanding of the field. TriageLogic is a leading provider of triage technology, mobile applications, and call center solutions. The TriageLogic group serves physicians nationwide and covers millions of lives. With over ten years of experience and six customizable products, TriageLogic continues to partner with private practices, hospitals, and corporations throughout the U.S. Visit www.triagelogic.com for more information

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TriageLogic has been selected as one of Jacksonville’s Fast 50. TriageLogic experienced high growth by providing innovative products, outstanding service, and expertise at an affordable price. TriageLogic employees attended the reception to honor all Fast 50 businesses on July 20 in Jacksonville.

“Our strength has been the ability to recognize the challenges customers face and develop products to solve those challenges,” said CEO Charu Raheja. “When a client comes to us with a challenge they are trying to solve, we usually have a solution already available for their particular case.” Charu continues, “Our team spirit is one of constant innovation where the customer comes first.”

The corporate environment and healthcare industry both face pressure to keep their employees engaged, healthy, and happy, all while increasing productivity and decreasing healthcare costs. TriageLogic products focus on convenience, communication, and wellness, which created a large opportunity. Their growth is a combination of being in the market at the right time, as well as seeing a need and building innovative products to meet those needs.

TriageLogic is always evolving and looking for ways to develop services and products to improve the efficiency of providers and nurses and enhance the experience for patients. With that in mind they developed new features for their daytime office software, MyTriageChecklist.

They are also creating a new data report feature for their call center software and a customizable mobile app platform for providers and patients. They understand the industry is always evolving, so their team is always looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve to provide clients with the best software and services in the industry.

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By Dr. Ravi Raheja

When patients get discharged after a hospital visit, it can be difficult for them to follow or remember discharge instructions. This can lead to higher readmission rates, longer recovery times, and overall lower quality of patient satisfaction.

Did you know?

Up to 20 percent of patients are readmitted within thirty days.

There is the potential to save 12 billion dollars on readmissions.

Hospitals could lose as much as 528 million dollars from Medicare cuts.

Why Hospital Readmissions Occur: A common cause for readmissions is poor follow-up by patients after the procedure. The stress and difficulty faced by patients during their hospital stay makes it common for them to forget or misunderstand the instructions given by providers during the patients’ hospital discharge. Often, patients go home confused about their medication orders, fail to follow the treatment plan, or neglect to follow up with a doctor visit in a reasonable time.

Family members may be able to help patients follow discharge instructions, but they are often distracted because of the hospitalization or not able to help with the patient discharge plan once they go home.

Offer patients customized continued care after patient discharge to:

Decrease ER readmission rates.

Ensure continuity of care.

Increase patient satisfaction.

Help patients avoid unnecessary ER visits.

Increase patient compliance with instructions.

Nurses trained specifically for post-op care can help a hospital reduce readmissions by creating a customized follow-up plan to keep patients on the correct path to recovery. A hospital staff member will fax the post discharge nurse the instructions from the hospital EMR for patients who have been discharged and are at risk for readmission. The nurses will make follow-up calls to confirm compliance with medications and screen for necessary follow up visits. If needed, nurses can also be available 24/7 for patients to call if a symptom arises. These calls can be customized to what doctors think will work best and can be adjusted at any time.A common cause for readmissions is poor follow-up by patients Click To Tweet

The ideal program allows each specialty in the hospital to have its own custom profile, so that each specialty can include custom instructions for the nurses to follow related to the care for specific procedures and specialties. Advanced follow-up systems can even create custom protocols to allow nurses to ask specific and related screening questions. Some examples of these screening questions include:

Medication Compliance

Did you get medicines?

Do you know how to take them?

Are you taking them?

Do you have any concerns about taking the medicine?

Follow-up

When do you have an appointment scheduled?

Are you able to keep that appointment?

Symptom Review

Do you know what signs or symptoms to look out for?

Do you know what number to call if you have a medical concern?

Do you have any questions you would like me to pass on to your doctor?

Dr. Ravi Raheja, is the medical director at TriageLogic, which uses innovative technology to offer a comprehensive and customizable post-discharge system. In addition to the customizable post discharge plan above, TriageLogic nurses also remain available for patients 24/7 should any symptoms or questions arise. If your hospital is looking to reduce patient readmission rates, contact TriageLogic to get a quote on post discharge follow-up service.

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TriageLogic CEO, Charu Raheja, PhD, was honored at the Enterprising Women of the Year Awards. The Enterprising Women of the Year Awards is a prestigious recognition program for women business owners.

To win this award, Dr. Raheja demonstrated she has a fast-growth business, actively supports other women and girls involved in entrepreneurship, and stands out as a leader in her community. She exhibits each of these qualifiers in the success of TriageLogic and the launch of Continuwell, as well as her work with Community Health Charities and various charitable commitments and donations in her community.

Dr. Raheja was recognized April 2 at the 15th Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards Celebration & Conference. Enterprising Women is the nation’s only women-owned magazine published exclusively for women business owners that chronicles the growing political, economic, and social influence and power of entrepreneurial women.

“The recipients of the 2017 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards represent an amazing group of women entrepreneurs from across the United States and as far away as The Netherlands, South Africa, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and Canada,” said Monica Smiley, publisher and CEO of Enterprising Women. “We could not be more proud to recognize their accomplishments as CEOs of fast-growth companies, community leaders, and role models and mentors to other women and girls. We look forward to shining the spotlight on them at our fifteenth annual awards event in April.”

“We are excited to have TriageLogic recognized for its diversity and look forward to many new partnerships to help triage patients and ensure appropriate care for their symptoms,” said Dr. Raheja. “Now that TriageLogic is WBENC certified, we have the ability to compete for business opportunities provided by WBENC Corporate Members and government agencies looking to increase the diversity of their vendors.”

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Innovative Nurse-First Model to Improve Telehealth

TriageLogic Management and Consulting, LLC, announces the launch of Continuwell®, a new telehealth product for businesses and organizations to decrease employee healthcare expenses and reduce employee sick days. This service is designed to complement and enhance existing wellness or telemedicine offerings already in place or as a turnkey solution.

You take care of your patients, but who takes care of your staff? When your patients have a medical issue arise, they call your office or triage line to evaluate their symptoms and get professional advice on what steps to take next. Why not extend triage services to your staff by making Continuwell part of your employee benefits package?

Continuwell is a telephone healthcare service with a network of experienced registered nurses and doctors. Continuwell provides 24/7 on demand nurses and doctors to evaluate employees or members and determine appropriate care for their symptoms.

Continuwell differentiates itself with its nurse-first model, where nurses use doctor-written guided protocols to evaluate callers and determine the care needed to resolve their symptoms. Our nurses are able to provide the necessary care without the need of a doctor in three out of four cases, saving the cost of a telehealth doctor visit and making the system affordable for employers and employees:

Members enter their symptoms using either a mobile application or website portal.

A registered nurse calls back within minutes.

The nurse evaluates their symptoms and helps them with the next steps.

Continuwell is always available to help your staff get back on their feet, no matter the symptom. Continuwell nurses are an objective resource that employees can use to discuss symptoms they may not want to discuss with colleagues.

Telehealth doctors are available in the event a prescription or further treatment is needed. Our medical professionals reduce employee sick days and get people back to their normal activities sooner. Therefore, your staff can return to taking care of patients faster.

We help people decide when they really need to go to the ER, and when it is okay to stay at work. Our solution is a trusted alternative to ER or urgent care visits and prevents oversight of serious warning signs. Not only are we HIPAA compliant, we are also independent of health insurance companies.

Continuwell is affordable healthcare that gives employees or members peace of mind.

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The TriageLogic group released their new e-book, The Telephone Triage Handbook: A Convenient Guide for Providers, written by Charu G. Raheja, PhD.

This book shares telemedicine innovations, relevant data and benefits of telephone nurse triage, and insights from a pool of expert leadership at the TriageLogic Group, which has taken over one million telephone triage calls in the last ten years. Call center managers and providers will learn what nurse triage is, how it works, and understand how to best utilize nurse triage in individual practices and call centers. The book provides many practical action steps for healthcare professionals including: How to evaluate your call center platform; how to select the best nurse triage system; how to use telephone nurse triage to improve patient satisfaction; and how to reduce cost while providing the highest-level patient care.

The handbook is available in the Amazon and Kindle stores for a minimal cost of $0.99, and is available for free PDF download from Triagelogic.com. “I am very excited about this e-book as I think it provides a high quality resource to providers and managers,” says Ravi Raheja, MD and medical director of TriageLogic, LLC, “This is an easy to read, practical guide for setting up a telephone triage resource.”

The Telephone Triage Handbook is the first of several e-books from TriageLogic. “Education is an important goal of our company. We are using my background in teaching and finance along with the wealth of knowledge from our physicians and nurses to write books and blogs to help advance the field of telephone triage,” says Charu G. Raheja.

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TriageLogic updated MyTriageChecklist™, which incorporates Barton-Schmitt Pediatric Office-Hours Telephone Triage Protocols. This update adds fifty new protocols to ensure comprehensive symptom coverage and standard of care for any office that handles patient phone calls. The new protocols include a wide variety of symptoms associated with issues such as anxiety, ear piercing, and the Ebola protocols, which were originally released during the outbreak of 2014. Clients who use MyTriageChecklist always have easy access to updated triage protocols in an electronic format that can be used with any other electronic medical system.

A service provided to all MyTriageChecklist clients is comprehensive training and access to an experienced triage nurse. All clients have the option to attend free weekly training sessions, where a registered nurse with triage experience explains how to use the software, as well as answers questions. As practices hire new nurses, they can attend these sessions, learn how to triage safely in a clinical setting, and apply the content to their practice. This is supplemented by their free telephone triage online learning center, which has comprehensive material for both new and experienced triage nurses.

“At TriageLogic, we believe providing the standard of care in all aspects of a practice is of the utmost priority. With the proper protocols and training available, nurses can make good decisions when they are on the phone,” says Dr. Ravi Raheja, MD and medical director of TriageLogic™.

“Clients appreciate our training because it helps them to learn how to use the protocols and implement them in their offices. New nurses coming on at client practices can also sit in on trainings, so it alleviates the provider of extra training responsibilities,” adds Rose Moon, RN and Staff trainer for TriageLogic.

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TriageLogic released the new version of its online learning center, which tracks material learned, exams, and telephone triage nurse certification courses. This material for certification can be used to train telephone triage nurses. Courses will be broken down into lessons and supplemental materials with a progress meter for easy tracking.

With this new capability, nurses can track their own progress and managers can track the progress of their entire nursing team. “I am excited to use the online learning center in our telephone nurse training, ” said Marci Lawing, RN and nurse manager at TriageLogic, “It will add great value to our current training process and to our software for clients.”

To set up the virtual classroom, the manager fills out the contact form on the TriageLogic website and sends a list of nurse email addresses to be added to the database. Next, a username and password will be sent to each nurse and the manager. Then they can log in begin training right away.

TriageLogic is committed to learning and expanding the field of nurse triage. “We are excited to share our expertise with the telephone triage community and to continue improving patient care nationwide,” said Ravi Raheja, MD and medical director of TriageLogic.

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TriageLogic released their answering service API, which allows any web-based answering service to submit a triage call to TriageLogic’s Call Center Solution™ software, directly from their platform. Since answering services and nurse triage call centers perform completely separate functions, they typically run on different software platforms.

However, the two entities must coordinate with each other. In most cases, the answering service takes a message and faxes the information to the triage center. Another common scenario is for the operator to verbally relay the information to the triage center. Unfortunately, both of these practices are time-consuming and expensive.

With TriageLogic’s answering service API, the non-clinical operator submits the information directly to TriageLogic for the nurse to see immediately. This improved process saves time and money, as well as decreases the potential for error or delay in the relay process. Another benefit is the flexibility the new answering service API provides for medical practices.

If a practice has a relationship with an answering service, they can add triage services with minimal changes to their current after-hours infrastructure and without requiring the answering service to use a different software platform to enter patient calls.